Biochemical processes including cell culture are greatly affected by environmental conditions such as the temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen concentration, among others. Generally, the environmental conditions that affect biochemical processes are controllable, and control of these conditions results in control of the process. Because biochemical processes involve living systems that include random variables, the analysis of the status and control of the process require real-time, on-line sensing of selected process variables.
Advancements in instrumentation for sensing and controlling many of these environmental conditions have led to improvements in process control including process reproducibility and optimization. However, while individual environmental conditions of a biochemical process may be monitored and controlled in a relatively straightforward manner, the simultaneous control of all of the desired environmental conditions is generally difficult. Often, biochemical process control involves the use of instrumentation including hardware and software dedicated to a specific process. Traditionally, such process control is dictated by a hardware configuration that may or may not include software control. Such process control systems lack versatility and user flexibility.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an integrated process control system that effectively controls the environmental conditions of a biochemical process and is readily configurable and controllable by the user. The present invention seeks to fulfill these needs and provides further related advantages.